Changes
by Silithos the Chosen
Summary: In the aftermath of both Reign Storm and The Ultimate Enemy, Danny finds that changes are coming, and he's not sure if he likes them. DxS
1. Danny's Luck Runs Out

Disclaimer: If you think I own this show, I think you need a visit from Spectra.

**Chapter 1: Danny's Luck Runs Out**

Danny Fenton was looking like an everyday teenager nowadays. Ever since his parents and friends had almost died in the Nasty Burger explosion, he smiled a little more. The jocks still picked on him, but he never retaliated, and eventually they moved onto the new incoming freshmen. His grades even went up-not a whole lot, but enough to satisfy his sister and their teacher. All in all, it looked like Danny Fenton was finally coming into his own and adjusting to his double life.

Danny Fenton was a world class liar.

Nobody saw the bags under his eyes, the slowness with which he moved. His hands often shook with weariness, but he covered it up with hand gestures. Tucker knew _something_ was off, but spending more and more time with Valerie had caused him to miss many things. He tried to be around as much, but things had changed and they all knew it. Sam saw though. She saw everything that happened. When it was only her around, he let the facade drop and she saw him as he truly looked.

The ghosts were getting more numerous. There were at least ten a day now, and there seemed to be no end to it. He almost never slept, spending most of his nights studying or doing homework. He said the ghost kept him too busy to fall asleep, but she knew better. There was something else bothering him, something he wasn't talking about. His sister didn't have a better clue, as he was pleasant around the house as well. His parents were utterly clueless, more focused on their latest projects than on their children.

Sam had some inkling, more so than Jazz because she went with him fighting. There was a second-every time a new fight came up-that he hesitated. A brief pause before he transformed, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye. He never shouted "Going Ghost" anymore, and he left his ghost form as quickly as possible. There were no random flights, no phasing through everyday obstacles, no extra use of his powers at all. It was such a change from before they went to the future that she was very worried.

"Before they went to the future." Strange that she could even think that and not check herself into a loony bin. But it was true, they had traveled into the future-or rather _a _future, where Danny was an evil ghost that tried to destroy Amity Park and they were all dead. It still seemed so unreal, but they had escaped back to their own time and all had been better. At least, that was what they all thought.

Sam wasn't so sure. Sure he laughed when they mention the things they saw, but when he though no one was looking his eyes turned dull. When he looked at them, his eyes filled with many things, including something that looked like guilt. She had a feeling that Danny had experienced something more than they had, and it had scarred him deeply. She only hoped that he would let her help.

Danny leaned his head against the locker while Sam looked on with some worry. The past two days had been better, she knew. There had been a total of three ghosts to fight, and he actually slept for a few hours between the two nights. She didn't know what exactly had turned his luck around, but she was very grateful for it. Of course now there were other issues.

"I feel heavy Sam, like I was lifting weights all day. My whole body aches, like one big tooth. And I'm pretty sure these pants were longer yesterday." Sam tried not to snicker at the outrage in his voice. He _had _grown a few inches since Monday, although she had been loathe to point it out to him. "I really appreciate getting time to sleep, but the silence is making me nervous. I go from an average of a ghost every two hours to one a day? It just screams 'plot' to me." He slammed his hand into the locker and turned to walk away. Sam hurried after him, trying not to worry that there was a very large dent in his locker now.

"Well Danny, we could always go looking for information. The Box Ghost is usually pretty easy to crack." He spun her around, meeting her eyes with a crazed expression.

"Don't ever say that, Sam. We can't stoop to their level or we're just as bad as them. Do you understand?" His fingers were tight around her shoulders, almost to the point of pain. He looked so wild that she decided to approach this calmly.

"Danny, you're hurting me." He let her go staring as if she were something that had burned him. The look of horror in his eyes had her opening her mouth to reassure him, but she was interrupted.

"Fenton! I was looking for you. These new boys aren't nearly as much fun. Let's _talk_." Dash Baxter, bully extraordinaire, strode down the hall with a malevolent look on his face, only to stop when Danny turned to face him.

"NOT NOW DASH!" The football player fell onto his butt, pushed back by the power that emanated from his target. He scramble to his feet and fled, fearing that which had changed from hunted to hunter. Danny, meanwhile, had covered his mouth with a groan.

"I've tried so hard to repress that." He saw the question she wanted to ask, and gently grabbed hr arm. "Come on, let go get a drink." She didn't say anything until they had left the building.

"You know there's still one class left for the day. I don't mind skipping if it's really important, but we should leave a message for Tucker." He sighed before pulling out the patented "Fenton Messenger" his parents had gifted him with when his grades started improving. He typed out a note to Tucker, telling him that they had to go somewhere and they would meet back up at his house. He checked the ghost radar that came standard just in case. Nothing.

Where exactly are we going Danny? You seem to be heading to the Nasty Burger, but it's not going to be open for another two weeks." He didn't speak for a second, but responded when they were a good distance from the school.

"They're keeping a vending machine there, hoping that people will still come around so they don't get used to not going there. Something about traffic flow continuation." He paused outside of the machines, digging in his pocket for the money to get one water and a coke. They sat at the provided benches, sipping slowly while she waited for him to build up the nerve to speak.

"Do you remember that attack I used in the future? The one that broke everything?" She thought back, going through the memories she was avoiding about the person that did all of those things.

"I remember it alright, but that wasn't you Danny. That was some dark and twisted monster, something you could never become." He pinned her with a look that told her he wasn't convinced.

"He called it the Ghostly Wail, and I almost used it on Dash just now. I've been avoiding using against the ghosts, mostly because it takes way too much energy." He looked down at his drink, swirling it in its bottle before he continued. "There's something I never told you guys. You remember when I came back in front of the Nasty Burger, right after you guys did?" She nodded, bit sure what he was getting at. "That wasn't me. I was floating in the ghost zone ten years into the future."

"Then who...oh my god."

"That's right. He came back instead of me, and he cheated on the CATs in my place. Then he took you all and trapped at the Nasty Burger, waiting for the big explosion that would change my life for the worse." She was shocked, and tried to protest.

"But that's not what happened Danny! You turned in the test answers and Lancer let you retest. We weren't kidnapped at all." He gave her a sad smile, even patting her on the hand before he started again.

"I finally escaped back here, and I met up with him. He had revealed my identity to everyone, and then we fought. I was losing, and then I used the Ghostly Wail on him. H wasn't expecting that Sam, because it took him ten years to learn it. I sucked him into the Thermos, but I had forgotten something." He shuddered with dread, and Sam felt a shiver run down her spine. "I had used up so much energy, I was too tired to get back to Nasty Burger in time. I tripped on a rock and watched as you were all blown up by the overheated sauce. That was the worst moment of my life. I had failed to save you, and to top it off, I was the one to put you there. I know, I know," he said, putting his hands up "it wasn't _me_ me, but some part of me still existed in him, and it made everything that much worse." He finished his soda and crushed the bottle, tossing it into the recycling bin by the machines.

"But we're here Danny. Nothing bad happened to us and everything turned out alright in the end."

"It wasn't me. I didn't save anyone. Clockwork stopped time to rescue you all, though only he really knows why. I was glad though, because at least if I was so weak, someone could look out for you."

"You're not weak Danny! You managed to beat him, even though he had the advantage of experience and growth. Just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you're a failure." He sighed, standing up and offering her a hand.

"After that, he rewound time to the CAT's. He said that I deserved a second chance after all I had been through." He smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes, just like almost all of his smiles now.

"There's something else, isn't there. That's not the only thing that keeps you up at night." He looked at his sneakers as they walked, now headed towards his house. It was about the time school let out anyway, so with luck no one would notice he had skipped.

"I'm scared Sam. Scared of what that future said about me."

"You're not evil Danny! I don't know what happened to that other Danny to make him turn out that way, but I refuse to believe that you would be like that."

"I know exactly how he came about, and you're halfway right. It was a strange, complicated set of circumstances that we managed to avoid this time around. Here's the part that worries me though: no matter how different we were, I could almost understand the decisions he made. They made sense in a way that scares me to the bone. How do I know I won't make similar decisions some day? I still have you guys, and that'll probably help, but what if it's not enough?" Sam stopped him from walking to give him a hug.

"No matter what Danny, I'll never let you make those decisions." They stood like that for a couple of minutes until they began to feel uncomfortable. When they separated, they were both a bright red.

"Thanks a lot Sam." He might have said more, but a blue mist escaped from his mouth. "Dammit! There goes my ghost break!" A group of ghost snakes materialized around him with a flash. Danny raised his hands, ready to go ghost, but he was interrupted by the call of someone else.

"Beware my wrath, for you have forfeited the right to peace!" Danny groaned and then turned pink as the box ghost came into view. He turned to Sam and saw her blinking.

"Is it me or is he actually...smaller?" He looked over to where the box ghost was floating and nodded with some shock. The box ghost _was_ slimmer, and his overalls seemed brighter. While they were looking, the snakes started talking in their hissing language.

"You know the order of the zone. He must be destroyed before the claim cements." The box ghost stared at them before responding.

"He _will_ take his proper place weaklings. Pariah will fall and the new lord will rise. No one will stop the ascension!" He launched himself at the five ghosts, throwing kicks and punches with skill and power he had never shown before. In short order he had them trapped in a box the he created from ecto-plasmic energy. "This is the fate of those that stand in the way of the new order." The box shrank until it squeezed out of existence, taking them with it. There was a moment of silence after they were gone, with Danny and Sam not sure if they would have to fight or not. The matter was settled by the ghost, who bowed deeply to Danny and faded from sight.

"What was _that_ all about?"

"Sam, I don't even want to try figuring that out right now. Let's just get home and worry about it later."

"Mom, it's really okay. I'll be fine going to and from school so I don't really need to wear a Specter Deflector." Sam watched with both amusement and concern as Danny fended off the offered item without touching it. It was funny to watch him coming up with excuses not to wear it, but at the same time she felt bad that he had to lie to her like that.

"Danny I'm only concerned for you. What with the recent increase in activity I think it would be better all around in you were protected whenever you left the house." She shook the belt at him with vigor and he grinned at her, though it was a little wan. He really wanted to turn it down, but her face was so full of concern he couldn't hurt her like that.

"Fine, but I'm not wearing it inside the house." He made sure it was off (it always buzzed to his senses when it was on) and took it. The smile that came over his mothers face was almost worth it to.

"Just put it on really quickly so I can make sure it fits right. I don't want it coming off when you meet some ghosts." Danny threw Sam a nervous glance before slipping the belt on with a flinch. His mother fixed it around his waist, tightening some screws and bolt before stepping back. "There! Now no ghost is getting _my_ son. Now make sure you have that on when you leave everyday and you'll be perfectly safe."

"Maddie! Did you get him to wear it?" Danny's father stomped into the room, closely followed by his sister. Jazz glanced to the belt around his waist and her eyes shot to his. He gave her a small nod to let her know he was okay.

"Yeah dad. See, it fits well and everything." He put his hand to the latch, intent on taking the belt off before his luck came into play.

"Danny you forgot to turn it on." A large hand reaches down to his waist and he wasn't quick enough to stop the tiniest press of the button.


	2. Explaining It All

**Chapter 2: Explaining It All**

Jazz watched in horror as her father pushed the button to activate Danny's belt. Everything seemed very still for a moment, as if no one wanted to say anything. Then the belt started sparking.

"DANNY!" Sam rushed forward to undo the belt, but that was when he started screaming and thrashing about. She tried to catch him in one place, but he was too strong for her. "Mr. Fenton, I need you to hold him down!" Jack Fenton just stared at the screaming form of his son, shocked into immobility.

"DAD, NOW!" Jazz rushed in to help, avoiding his flailing arms as best she could while reaching for his waist. Jack finally broke his stasis, kneeling beside the now prone Danny and holding his legs down.

"MADDIE, GET HIS ARMS!" His wife took her position by the head, pinning the arms down where she had the best leverage. With the most dangerous parts of the body restrained, Jazz and Sam were finally able to unlatch the belt, tossing it to the side like so much trash. "We're moving him to the couch girls." They lifted him-his arms and legs were still twitching, but thankfully that was all. His eyes were closed, though they moved behind the lids as if he were dreaming. They lay him on the couch, Sam sitting so that his head was in her lap. She softly stroked his hair, whispering words the others couldn't hear. They heard the door open, followed shortly by a yell.

"Danny? Sam? Where are you?" Tucker walked into the living room, stopping dead when he saw his best friends. Maddie watched as he looked Sam right in the eye. She knew that he was asking some sort of question, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was. All she could tell was the Sam responded with a head shake and he relaxed only slightly.

"What happened here?" Like the question in his eyes, there seemed to be more than one meaning to what he was saying. Maddie narrowed her eyes in suspension. The children were keeping something from her, something they were all in on. Sam must have caught the look she was wearing, because she sighed.

"Why don't we wait until Danny's awake, and we'll take it from there okay?" Danny's parents nodded, content to wait for an explanation straight from the source. Jazz gathered drinks for everyone while Jack sat down where he was to work on the Ghost Gabber. They were in for quite a wait.

Danny slid his eyes open and closed them with a moan just as quickly. The light was a little much right now, what the skin on his whole chest feeling like it wanted to slide off of his body. Somebody was stroking his hair, and he just wanted to slip into the comfort provided by that. However, if his memories were right, there were going to be two very curious parents wanting to question him. Plus he knew whose lap he was in and it was making him pretty embarrassed.

"I need to get up now Sam." Her hand jerked away from his head, and he felt a little sad about that. He sat up carefully and winced at the prospect of what was coming next. "I need a second guys. Don't try to help me, that'll only make it worse." He took a deep breath and pulled his shirt over his head as quickly as he could. He still screamed, and everyone could see why.

Starting near his waist, and more concentrated there, were dark red welts rising partway up his chest. Tucker could see the same thing from behind him. Jazz left to get the burn cream while Sam stretched out her hand and then retracted it. Maddie cleared her throat.

"Danny, the belt really shouldn't have reacted like that if it was working properly. It's most likely that there was some sort of malfunction. I'm sorry son, I should have checked it more thoroughly before you put it on." She tilted her head forward. She felt a little bad about using guilt against him, but she was worried about the secrets he was keeping. He never looked rested or relaxed anymore, and his grades were far less than she knew he was capable of. He tended to jump at every sound that was more than a whisper, and he was eating enough to make even Jack look picky. Out of the corner of her eye she watched son's face with some shock.

He was still thinking about lying to her. She could see it in the way his eyes were flicking back and forth. His mouth opened and closed before a shudder ran through his entire frame. His head dropped to his hands and his voice came out weakly.

"I'm so tired. Not sleeping, failing classes, fighting all the time...lying. I'm just so tired of it all." He lifted her head to look her right in the eyes. "Mom, I know you've had suspicions over time that you shoved to the back of your mind, things that didn't add up. You brushed it off all those times because you didn't want to believe, but sometimes we have to stop lying to ourselves and just face reality. You know why the Specter Deflector did that to me. Just admit it to yourself." He gave her a small smile and watched the light gathering in her eyes as she finally allowed herself to know what she suspected.

"Time Out!" The entire scene froze as a ghost man appeared with a pop. He surveyed the people frozen while he changed into an old man with a long beard. With a sigh he pulled a medallion out of his robes and slipped it over the head of the shirtless one. He started with a jerk.

"What?" He looked around to catch sight of the ghost, who was now a little boy. "Clockwork? What are you...no." The terror in his voice rose until it reached panic levels. The shifting ghost lifted a placating hand to calm him.

"He had not escaped my guard. I decided the nexus was too insecure, so I placed him 'between the ticks', as I like to call it." He shook his head in the silence and skipped over the explanation. "Just be assured he is carefully sealed away." Danny breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his alternate was not about to menace the world again.

"So what exactly did you need? I mean, I'm glad to see one of the few ghosts that I can actually have a conversation with, but I get the feeling that this isn't a social call."

"Yes indeed. It's not _bad _news per-say, but I do have some important news to impart." Danny raised a hand to stop him, staring intently the people around him.

"I need you to come back in ten minutes, and don't freeze time when you do." Clockwork raised an aged eyebrow at this statement. "If it's going to be as important as you say, I think I should share it with the people I love." Clockwork gave a small smile.

"As you wish. Keep the pendant until I return." He disappeared in a flash of light, leaving time paused to give Danny a second to get back into the proper mindset. He turned his eyes back to his mother, who had her mouth slightly open to say something. He felt the gear medallion cool down as time started again. His smile widened when he heard the words she whispered.

"Danny Phantom." Right on cue Jack, who hadn't really been following things, stood up with a gun in his hand.

"Where! I'll take that ghost out-or not, but I don't like it invading my home."

"Mom, do you want to take this?"

"No sweetie, I think it would be better coming from you." Danny sighed and took the gun out of his father's hand.

"Dad, I want to explain some things to you, but I need you to calm down when I talk." He waited until his father was once more seated on the floor before "You guys had just finished the ghost portal and it wasn't working. I invited Sam and Tucker over to check it out, and Sam mentioned going inside." He caught the looks directed her way. "Well, it might have been her that pushed me into doing it, but she didn't really say anything I wasn't already thinking. I put on my lab suit and stepped inside. I put my hand on the wall, but I hit the on button instead." He paused here as something occurred to him. "Why did you guys put a power button on the inside anyway?" Jack started talking before his wife could.

"Well son we wanted to be able to have the power switch interact with the ectoplasmic energy emanating from the Ghost Zone. We bought this house because there was a weakness in the barrier that separates our two worlds but it wasn't strong enough." Danny laughed, though it sounded a little grimmer than a laugh should.

"The place where a person just died is always the thinnest area in the barrier. When I pressed the button, the portal was flooded with power trying to connect the worlds together but it couldn't. Instead of making its way to the grounding rod, it chose to go through me." There was a gasp of horror from his parents.

"But the Fenton portal was designed to use enough electricity to kill a human three times over! It's a miracle you're still alive!"

"I'm not mom. Or I'm sure I'm mostly alive, but I'm definitely not the same. I felt myself dying. It didn't hurt, but I could feel something cold creeping up on me." He blew out a breath. "It was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me. I didn't want to go. There were so many things I wanted to do..." His mother and Jazz both noticed the way his eyes flicked to Sam, but they decided to keep it quiet. "Then something happened that took me months to figure out." He put his head in his hands and Tucker patted his shoulder (one of the few exposed places that wasn't red) while Sam stroked his knee. He had never talked much about the day of the accident, and now they knew why.

"Danny, you don't have to answer this, but how in the world did you find all of this out?" Everybody could have sworn they saw a pinking color spread over his skin for a few seconds before he answered.

"I joined the Ghost Zone National Library. Anyway-" He was interrupted by at least three different people.

"THERE'S A GHOST ZONE NATIONAL LIBRARY?" Danny scowled as the pink darkened to red.

"I don't really have a lot of time now, so please...here's what I think happened: As I was dying, the barrier was thinning, which allowed some more potent ghost energy to start slipping through. That ectoplasmic energy mixed with the electricity that was powering the portal and blew a permanent hole to the Ghost zone. I happened to be in the middle of that hole. Now, a healthy human can apparently enter the Ghost Zone unprotected for a short period with no ill effects-something to do with 'self-contained Biometric energy'. However I was dying, so my energy was way off, pulsing around in a mad attempt to make me stay alive. To further that end, it absorbed a vast amount of the ghost energy and used it to bind me to this plane." His mother nodded.

"Ghosts are very good at keeping themselves from moving on, so their energy would facilitate that."

"Yeah. It was a good try, but unfortunately life energy and ghost energy aren't really meant to exist in the same body, especially if that body is living. The two powers fought one another, and that's where the pain came in. It felt like I was being torn apart. Eventually, it was over and I was ejected from the portal where Tucker and Sam took me up to my room."

"But who won the struggle Danny?" His mother sounded as if she didn't really want to hear the answer, but had to ask.

"They both did mom. My life was saved, so the life energy is still there. I was changed though. I think that every part of my body was infused with ghost energy, to the point that I think a DNA test would register me as a different person. I was changed from the bottom to the top and when I came to I looked very different." He took a deep breath. "Mom, dad, I am a half ghost that goes around fighting the destructive ghosts and I call myself Danny Phantom." There was a strained look on Jacks face, as if he were refraining from shouting "GHOST!". He felt the medallion warm up and knew that he had to prepare them as quickly as possible. "I have a friend showing up any second, a ghost friend, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't attack him." The words had barely left his mouth when a young child ghost blinked into existence.

"Greetings, friends and family of the Protector. I am Clockwork, guardian of the time stream." Danny cleared his throat to distract his father from drawing one of the many guns he continually had available.

"Like I was saying, Clockwork came by a little earlier with something to tell me, and I decided that it would be nice to share it with the people I love." He took his mother's hand and patted his father on the shoulder, willing them to understand his feelings. She smiled at him and turned to face the ghost in expectation, but his father was a little less accepting of the visitor.

"Danny, why didn't you tell us earlier? We could have tried to find a cure, some way to separate the ghost energy..." Danny grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him square in the eyes.

"No! You are never, EVER to even consider trying to separate my ghost side. Promise me."

"Danny, it wouldn't be that..."

"PROMISE!" His parents looked somewhat taken aback, but Clockwork knew exactly where he was coming from. All Jack knew was that his son was digging his fingers into his shoulders with a force he didn't suspect him capable of and looked more determined than he had ever seen him.

"I promise Danny." His son let out a hard breath.

"Thank you dad."


	3. Ghostly Tidings

**Chapter Three : Ghostly Tidings**

"Well, now that that's settled, we can continue." Clockwork brought every ones attention back to the matter at hand. "Danny, I came here today to tell you something that is little known by most mortals or even many ghosts. As you may know, ghosts are not locked into one shape for their entire existence. They change over time, either quickly or slowly much like humans might though it is more psychological. There are instances, however, when a ghost has gathered so much power to themselves that they...leap forward so to speak. We call it Ascension, and it is very rare. It happens no more than once every few hundred years or so." Danny sighed.

"Let me guess..." Clockwork smiled at him.

"Yes Danny you are approaching an Ascension. Hence the constant attacks. The more sensitive of the spirits can feel the power changing in you, and it frightens them. The older ones, namely those like Skulker and Desiree, were around for the last ascension, and they fear you becoming more powerful."

"Great. I really _am_ going through evil puberty." Danny sounded almost resigned at this point. He was quick to protest though. "I'm not that powerful. I mean, sure I can get the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone, but..." Clockwork laughed, a wheezy sound as he was an old man at the time.

"Danny, you've been a ghost for a year plus correct?" Danny nodded. "Skulker had been hunting the ghost zone for going on seven hundred years, and is considered one of the strongest specters around."

"That little guy? How in the world did he get a reputation like that?"

"My dear boy, are you aware of the power required to run a full combat bodysuit like that? Of course you are, you've done it before. Now, consider that he is wearing it all day, every day." His mouth fell open at the thought. Just one fight in the Fenton Battle Suit had nearly killed him, he couldn't imagine a lifetime in it. "And you have bested him time and again. It was Skulker who destroyed the last ghost to ascend, and you are already more powerful than he was." He let the information sink in, observing those around him.

On the whole, Danny's family looked both concerned for him and proud of him. He had gained power that might have inflated the head of another teen and used it to the benefit of the whole. His friends reactions were similar, but they held a dash of something else. The technological one, Tucker, was at the same time slightly jealous and slightly relieved. He had been granted ghost powers at one point and his decisions hadn't been nearly as altruistic. The girl, however, was another story entirely. Her emotions were all over the place where it concerned the half-ghost. She was angry that he was so stressed, concerned for his well being, proud of his choices, happy that he no longer had to lie to his family...the list went on and on. She was tied to him with strands of emotion and experience that even his family could not match, and he was interested to see where it would lead.

"Clockwork, isn't that changing from baby to man to old guy thing just a little annoying? I mean it's got to be, I'm annoyed just watching it." Trust Tucker to use the subtlety of a tactical nuke. Danny groaned while the ghost in question stared at his friend. Thankfully, the master of time was not offended.

"Indeed, young one my shifting is most vexatious. Unfortunately, it is not in my control." He stopped talking when he saw the bright smiles on the faces of Danny's friends, almost worried by the malicious nature of them. A louder groan was heard from Danny. Tucker turned his PDA to the microphone setting

"Are you tired of those shape-shifting ghosts giving you the slip?" Sam took the PDA and added her own line.

"Unwilling changes of form got you down?"

"Newest in the quality line from FentonMart-"

"Danny is proud to present-" Sam reached into Danny's abandoned backpack and pulled out a bracelet which she and Tucker presented for their viewing pleasure.

"The Fenton Form Fixer!" Tucker pressed a button on his device, bringing forth a tinny trumpet sound. Danny clapped at their little presentation and spoke with much evident embarrassment.

"Geez, you get a little over excited one time, and your friends can't let it go. Anyway, I was going to recommend this to you. You just put it on your wrist and it locks you in the form your currently occupying. I made it so that I could wear it in ghost form when there was an audience. That way when I got too tired, I wouldn't change back." He took the bracelet from Sam and snapped it onto Clockwork's wrist just when he went into his adult mode. "The best part is, it goes intangible with you and no one can take it off without the key, which I can make you a copy of." Clockwork actually laughed out loud, losing himself in the freedom of only one form.

"Daniel, I thank you for this great boon!" He caught sight of the wince that accompanied his use of the name Daniel and nodded. "I'm sorry of course Danny, but I was rather excited." He nodded back, but his mother caught the quick exchange.

"What was that all about?"

"Somebody I really don't like calls me Daniel, so I prefer not to be referred to that way."

"Who exactly calls you that? The only one I can think of is some of your teachers and-" His mothers voice cut off as she reached the name of someone that she couldn't, until recently, stand.

"I'm afraid, Mrs. Fenton, that I have another piece of news to impart before I leave, and this one comes with a nifty video attachment." He waved his staff and a screen appeared floating in the air. "Now Danny I want you to watch the beginning very closely and tell me what you think of it." He tapped the screen with his staff and it started playing. Danny showed up, bursting through the doors of the castle. He was taunted by Pariah, there were some words, and then the fight began. Everyone else watched the fight in awe, but Danny was stuck on the beginning.

"_Why don't we skip the banter and get straight to the part where I beat you?"_

_"I accept your terms!"_ There was something about those words that worried at his mind. He was so preoccupied he failed to notice the end of the fight where he collapsed. He was engulfed in a hug from his mother.

"Oh honey that looked terrible. The Fenton Suit was so dangerous, I can't believe you wore it for that long."

"She right man. But you totally defeated the Ghost King in an awesome battle! If only you could show that to the idiots at school." Tucker was more than excited by the viewing. He wasn't very physical himself, but the enjoyed action as much as the next teen. The fact that it was his real life friend kicking but made it all the better. Danny, meanwhile, let the words echo in his head. _Defeated the Ghost King-defeated the Ghost King-defeated the Ghost King_. Then it struck him. He turned back to Clockwork, who was staring at him intently.

"No way! I mean, there has to be no way I can be held to that!"

"There is a small loophole, but I'm afraid you've already passed that mark." Nobody knew what they were talking about, following the conversation as if it were a tennis match. "If you don't mark someone as your right hand within a certain time period, the claim will diffuse. However as I said, it's to late to attempt to avoid it."

"How could it be too late? I haven't marked anybody...have I?" Sam decided she would be the one who posed the important question.

"Danny, what are you guys talking about? I mean, all I saw was a fight with a really powerful ghost, and you act like the world ended." He turned to her started gesturing with his hands.

"Sam, the Ghost world is really complicated, with lots of rules, but its base is very simple. Its structured after an ancient warrior type society, and it follows those same codes." A gasp from Jazz told him that she had uncovered his problem. "What was the main thing about warrior cultures that you can think of?" Sam closed her eyes trying to remember everything she knew about history, which wasn't much.

"The strongest one was the leader." This from Tucker, the technophile.

"Exactly. Now, what happens if you beat the strongest warrior in what amounts to one on one ritual combat?" There was a collective intake of breath at the implications of what he was saying. Sam looked unsure while his parents were teetering between unbelieving and shocked. Maddie spoke first.

"Son are you tying to say that you accidentally became the king of ghosts?" Clockwork shook his head, as he had the most information on this matter.

"Not exactly. You see, when he defeated Pariah Dark, he was technically fighting for the 'ownership' of Amity Park. As you may recall, Pariah had claimed it earlier, and Danny was in effect attempting to wrest back control. It is only as a side effect that Danny has a claim to the throne of the Ghost Zone. If nothing further had happened, the claim would have dissipated in a couple of months. That's not what happened though. There are some things only a claimant or the King himself can do. One is the marking of someone else to act has your right hand, the leader of your men. You may remember the ghost in black armor that led the attack on your town?" Maddie and Jack nodded, interested in learning something more of the way the enemy worked.

"Yes, what was he called? Was he special in any way, because I noticed he was much more intelligent than the others? What-" Danny decided to interrupt before his mother overwhelmed them with questions.

"I'll give you access to the Ghost Files after this okay? Right now there's only a couple of things you really need to know: he's called the Fright Knight, and he was the right hand of Pariah Dark." He paused, then spoke thoughtfully. "You know, now that he betrayed Pariah, he's snapped the connection between them right?" Clockwork smiled at his intuition.

"Correct. In the line of our original conversation, Danny's claim was going away. The ghosts still piled on him, hoping for his destruction before the ascension. Danny was slowly wearing out from all of the ghost attacks combined with his school life." Clockwork failed to notice Danny's shushing motions or the horrified looks on his parents faces. "This is the way things were headed when something interesting happened. Danny marked a ghost as his servant, probably without even knowing what you were doing." It was Sam who put things together.

"You marked the _Box Ghost_!"

"What!" Tucker was just as surprised as Sam. The idea that Danny would chose, accidentally or not, the bumbling Box Ghost as his right hand was hilarious. He burst out laughing even as Danny started scowling.

"He's not that bad guys! Sure, he's a little clumsy and one track minded, but that's no reason to be down on him." They stared at him, convinced he had lost it. "It's just...I see things differently about him now." They continued to look at him and he turned red again. "Just take my word for it, alright. I didn't know I was marking him at the time, but I don't really regret it. I mean, it's doing some good, right? I haven't had to fight for a little bit, and besides the horrible ache in my muscles and the burned skin covering my torso, things are definitely looking up." He was so earnest about it they decided to drop it. "So what can I do about this?" Clockwork shrugged and tapped his staff on the ground absently.

"There's not really much you can do about it. Once a vassal has been marked, the claim is cemented. All you would have to do to get the throne would be acknowledgement of most of the Ghost Zone...I believe the specific requirement is seventy-nine percent." Sam and Jazz both blinked.

"That's a really weird number." He just shrugged again.

"I'm not particularly concerned with the Ghost Zone _or _its inhabitants and their rules. The only person, ghost or monster that really concerns me is Danny." Maddie jumped in with a question, eager to know more about this strange ghost's relationship with her son.

"Exactly why is that? I mean, by all appearances you should be a neutral spectral being, guarding time. Why are you taking such an interest in my son?" Her tone may have started out curious but there was a definite edge of suspicion at the end. She didn't notice Danny shaking his head for all he was worth.

"That is a rather long story, and not even Danny knows the whole of it. Rest assured, I have Danny's full well-being in mind at all times. As I was saying, even if you get the acknowledgement of the zone, it doesn't really accomplish much. 'King of Ghosts' sounds very impressive, but it comes with few perks or responsibilities. You have an army of skeletons at your command, and you can overturn things like Walker's rulings, but all in all it's really a prestige thing. You know: giant castle, minions, etcetera." Danny looked at him, his mouth gaping open slightly. "Of course you can chose to ignore it all. You don't technically have to attempt to gain the throne. You can live the rest of your life with just the claim, never advancing it further."

"Well that's good news..."

"I wasn't finished yet." Danny's face fell. "As I said, you _could_ go through the rest of your life like that, but I wouldn't recommend it. For one, there is the matter of others. You may not want the throne, but other ghosts do. And while they weren't willing to awaken Pariah Dark for a chance at power, they are more than willing to try taking you out." Danny out his head in his hands once again. "Don't misunderstand, you have garnered quite the fearsome reputation for yourself in the Zone, but they would still rather face you than he." Maddie and Jack raised their eyebrows. Their son was feared in the Ghost Zone?

"What do you recommend then? I'm kinda at a loss here." Clockwork patted his head (which was still in his hands) and smiled.

"No worries Danny, we'll work it out. "We'll just wait until your ascension before we plan anything. " Danny lifted his head again.

"Wait, isn't this going to get you in trouble with those watcher guys?" Clockwork laughed, more than happy to share his tricking of the Observants with everyone.

"The fools that they are, the Observants have decided that I was to be your guardian. As such, I was given carte blanch to act as I see fit with concern to you." He smiled slyly, bringing something similar from Danny. The others looked amused at the loophole they were taking advantage of. Clockwork eventually cleared his throat. "There is only one thing left that I want to address, and I think it would be best if we discussed this privately." Danny was going to protest, but he saw something in the ghost's eyes that made him keep silent. "I can't really stay away too much longer, so we should continue at my place. Mr. Fenton, Mrs. Fenton, Jazmine it was nice to formally make your aquaintance. Danny if you'll hold on to my staff I'll transport us." Danny nodded his assent.

"Sam, Tuck could you get the Ghost Files up for Mom and Dad, password's Perish. No it won't let you into the rest of my files Tuck, just the ghost ones." Tucker pouted.

"I'm still not sure how you managed to make a program I haven't been able to hack yet." Danny smiled at him.

"Don't worry, it's nothing too important. Mom, Dad I'll be home as soon as I can. Alright CW let's go." Clockwork raised his eyebrows at the nickname before tapping his staff on the ground. They disappeared with a flash of light, leaving a slightly confused father and a very curious mother.

"Alright children, let's get started in explaining, hmmm." Sam, Jazz, and Tucker had the feeling that it was going to be a very long day.


	4. Deep Conversations

**Chapter Four : Deep Conversations**

Danny looked around the nexus of time, nervous about what Clockwork might want to talk about. He tried to take a look at some of the future portals but they immediately darkened as if they knew he wasn't supposed to see into them.

"You have much fear Danny." He knew that Clockwork was floating beside him, so the words didn't cause him any shock. "I've been watching you, as is only proper as your mentor/executioner." This caught his attention as he spun around to face the other.

"WHAT!"

"Do you not remember that I attacked you when we first met ? Originally I was approached by the observants to destroy you, thus preventing the creation of your older self. I found it a little strange that they would have me do this, as they themselves had forbidden me from interfering with the timeline. As much as I disliked the arrogance they showed in ordering me to act, I decided to use it to my advantage." He saw the look of horror on Danny's face and rushed on with his story. "See, I had already been looking into your life previous to your turning, and I felt rather bad for you. So I decided that by helping you I would not only prevent the creation of Him, but also gain a powerful allay." Danny was shocked, first by the thought that the one ghost he really trusted had been assigned to kill him and then by the fact that that same ghost had desired him as an allay.

"Why did you chose me? There have to be others that are much more suited to helping you? Maybe ones that don't turn evil." Clockwork heard both the bitterness and fear and nodded to himself.

"Actually, I much prefer the possibility of you turning evil than someone who cannot." Danny looked surprised, causing Clockwork to fill the room with laughter. "Oh Danny, there are things to look for when choosing friends and heroes. All humans have the capacity for evil, there is no avoiding that. Just remember this: if there is no capacity for evil, there is no true capacity for good." Danny thought about that for a second before his face brightened.

"Good and evil are choices, and if you cannot be evil then you cannot truly chose to be good." Clockwork smiled at him proudly, causing him a tingle of pleasure. It was rare someone look approvingly at him like that and wasn't Sam.

"Exactly right! I trust more the person who has chosen to do good, because they fight harder for their beliefs. Belief is a very powerful motivator Danny, never forget that." Clockwork looked at Danny's proud smile for a moment, unhappy that he had to spoil it but know it was necessary. "Now we come back to the heart of it, my true concern: your fear." He saw the tension re-enter the face of his charge. "As I said, I have been watching you, and I noticed something. You do not use any of your powers except in battle, and even then you hesitate. Hesitation against some of your foes would put you at a great disadvantage." He knew Danny didn't want to talk about it, but there were pressing matters that weighed on him. He could see some of the paths to come, and they scared him. "It's alright to have fear my boy, but to give in to that fear is unacceptable."

"I am scared, Clockwork, more than I've ever been before. I've almost died three times now, and the thing that freaks me out is the chance that I'm going to turn into that! I mean, the chance that I could cause all that pain and destruction..." He shuddered as the memories hit him again. "Why do you think I hesitate? What if one day I go ghost and it just takes over? I fear a part of myself...how do you get over that? I can't really run away from it, and fighting it is getting too hard." Clockwork sighed, glad that they had reached the core.

"You talk as if these feelings and these powers are separate from you child." Danny looked shocked, but the Time Keeper expected that. "You are under the impression that your ghost powers can be attributed to a second entity living inside of you. You are mistaken. It was simply energy that bonded to you, energy that is at your whim. It holds no sentience, no true will to guide it except for your own." He took in the horror on the child's face and refrained from sighing. He could watch the stream of time in multiple places at once, manipulate the horrid observants into doing his will and alter the course of history on a whim. Human emotion was slightly beyond him.

"If it's not separate, that means it really was all my fault!"

"I didn't say that, but it is close to the truth. When you bonded with the ghost energy, it became a part of you. It is now as important as your own life force, and removing it has consequences, though it obviously isn't impossible."

"But when I went through the Fenton Ghost Catcher nothing bad happened." Clockwork raised his eyebrow, marveling that his facial muscles never had a workout like before he started interacting with teenagers.

"Really? The fact that your human self was lazy and unmotivated to the point of near coma, and could care less about anything? Or the fact that your ghost side was entirely too dedicated to super-heroing and had an ego the size of Amity? No, absolutely nothing was wrong with that situation." Danny got a triumphant look on his face.

"You said it wasn't a separate ghost, but when got split it could think for itself and everything. How do you explain that?"

"I said there were consequences, did I not? You can take the ghost energy away from you, and it may even retain enough power to shadow your ghost form, but it is your human body that pays the price. When it leaves you, not only are you weakened, it takes with it a part of your very being, the most prominent part of your psyche at the time. While you are split from your ghost energy, you can never be truly whole."

"I wanted to have time with my friends, but I was worried about protecting the town too. So I run myself through the Ghost Catcher..."

"And Presto! One ultra-laid back teen and one hyper dutiful hero. Almost seems like it was a good idea until you realize that both sides were weaker for the split and incredibly unbalanced. And if you split a Danny that just saw his family and friends die in an accident that may or may not have been his fault, you get one empty human and a ghost full of pain, sadness, guilt-"

"Anger. Anger so bad you feel it burning you up on the inside, and you want it to go away so that you don't feel the pain anymore, but you hold onto it tight because your afraid if it's gone you'll just give up and die." Well, Clockwork really hadn't been expecting that one, so his eyebrow got more use. "I may have only thought my family and friends were gone for a few seconds, but it felt like forever to me on the inside. I know exactly what lead Him to ask to be split from himself, though I was more angry at myself than anything else."

"That is what your ghost half was composed of when he was split from you. All that is pain, anger, and sadness, without any happiness or mortal grounding to balance him."

"And with Plasmius standing right there, him being someone I had fought and all...no wonder he split him. But why would he merge with the other half?" Clockwork shrugged.

"It was probably seeking to be whole. Of course, it could have chosen better than something like Plamius, who probably ended up with all of Vlad's obsession and power hunger." He patted Danny's shoulder and raised his voice to drive home his point. "There you have it young man: the birth of a true villain. Take equal parts pain, anger and pride, remove the parts that let us feel consequences and care about others, then set the result loose on a world that it feels failed it." Danny nodded, feeling relaxed for the first time in a long while. Sam was right, he had really needed to talk the whole thing out.

"I kind of feel sorry for Him now you know. The only thing he really can feel is pain and anger, and it's all because of a bad choice that I might have made. He never really got to choose to be evil or good." They sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about Him and how so many little things piled until his creation was inevitable. Danny looked at his wrist for the time before realizing he had left his watch at home. "How long have we been here anyway?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow as Clockwork laughed again.

"Time flows or doesn't as I will it Danny." His guest looked a little perturbed with that thought. "Is it a problem?"

"Well, I did just drop a huge bomb on my parents, so I was hoping to give them a little while to absorb it all before I talked to them again. But I can't wait too long otherwise they'll think I'm avoiding them. It's a delicate balance...or so my psychiatrist says." Danny later thought that it was too bad Clockwork wasn't drinking anything, because he was sure he could have witnessed a classic spit take.

"I seemed to have missed something when I was reviewing your life." There was a dryness in his voice that would have made any Englishman proud. Danny took a deep breath, wondering how this day had turned into one for confessions.

"After the incident with Spectra I was a little...burdened with some of the stuff she said. I didn't really believe all that crap about being a loser non fitting-in freak, but she planted the doubts, you know? After a few days I noticed that it was still affecting my fighting, so I decided I needed to talk to someone. I was never that good at understanding myself."

"I'd think that someone in your unique position would have trouble finding professional help."

"You don't know the half of it. I couldn't look for a ghost therapist because I didn't think I could trust them, and any human therapist would have to be told about my secret. Yes I was actually considering another ghost therapist" he responded to Clockwork's look. "Eventually I knew that human was the way to go, because a ghost's view of emotion is really limited. So I spent some time investigating this one woman Jazz saw when she was thirteen. She seemed really cool so I took a chance with her. Best decision I ever made, really." He drummed his finger against the wall he was leaning on, uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. He'd promised Dr. Maxwell her secrecy, mainly so she could stay safe.

"I notice that your wounds have almost healed." Danny was slightly thrown by the change in conversation, but he grabbed at the chance. He checked his chest, realized he still didn't have a shirt on, blushed, and then moved on within one minute.

"Yeah, I heal a lot faster when the ambient ghost energy is more highly concentrated. So in the Ghost Zone I heal pretty rapidly. Does it help me when I need to hide bruises from my parents, or when I'm pretty much anywhere back home? No, but at least my battles here aren't too bad." He scowled as his...well, guardian of sorts just blinked at him. "I don't like school, math confuses me, and lit makes my head hurt, but ghost are one thing I can always understand. Especially if its me." Clockwork cleared his throat, obviously a little ashamed that Danny had caught his surprised look.

"Well, I guess it's time to send you back. Approximately forty minutes have passed since we left your family, is that enough time?" When Danny nodded and made to take off the medallion still hanging around his neck the ghost stopped him. "Keep it with you. It's pretty durable and carries some advantages. Not only does it prevent time manipulation from affecting you, but I can also contact you and vice versa. Now then, this portal will take you back to your house. I have some things to do, but I want to talk you about the alliance I mentioned earlier, preferably within the next few days. In case of an emergency just think about me and I'll hear it."

In Fentonworks, Sam Manson lifted her head from the computer she was reviewing. While Danny always gave them the new password every week, she and Tucker rarely read through the ghost files. Her mistake, because Danny had included some pretty funny bit in them, some interesting bits of information, even some insightful guesses. She never would have thought that he would spend so much time on them, but they were fairly complete as far as she could see. Except for one ghost.

There was no mention of Plasmius anywhere, and she would think that his file would have been the biggest. She wanted to tell his parents about their friend, but if Danny left out that file for a reason...no, better to wait until he got back. Speak of the devil-or superhero-whatever. A portal popped up, depositing back onto the couch, almost on top of her,

"Very funny!" he called back into the green before it disappeared. He turned to her, his cheeks lighting up slightly when he realized who he had bumped into. "I'm sorry Sam, but he seems to have this funny sense of humor. By the way, could you hand me my shirt?" Tucker choked off his laughter when Jazz gave a start, realizing that Danny was still half naked and Sam, to stop him from falling on her, had put her hands on his chest. It was one of the best awkward moments he had ever witnessed, but it sadly ended before its time.

"Here." Sam almost pushed him off of the couch with his shirt and cast around desperately for a change of subject. With a glance to make sure his parents were still absorbed in the files she whispered to him. "I noticed you left a ghost out of the files. Did you decide not to write about him?" Danny looked at the computer for a second before he stood up.

"Mom, dad, I need to borrow the computer for a couple of minutes. There are some things I need to change, and more files for you to see. They're just not as available." His mother handed him the laptop and he took it out of the room, causing Tucker to sigh. Sam laughed at him, and started explaining to Jazz, Maddie, and Jack.

"Tuckers been trying to hack into Danny's private files for months now, just as a challenge. He can't though, because Danny did something special to his computer and it's been driving Tucker crazy." She chuckled again and Tucker muttered about his friends betraying him. "It's not betrayal Tucker, he just wants his privacy. Besides, you know you only want access to his private files so that you can read his journal and embarrass him later." Tucker shrugged and gave a small grin. Jazz decided to add some input.

"You know, those that take the most joy in the embarrassment of others usually have the most crippling fear of embarrassment themselves." He tone was casual, but Tucker lost his grin quickly. With an exaggerated yawn he looked at his watch.

"Well, look at the time! I promised Val I would meet her at the park for a walk. Got to go, tell Danny I'll see him later." They could almost see the dust trail as he sped out of the room. Danny came in moments later.

"Can you tell me why Tucker almost ran me down?" He gives them a look when all he gets is laughter. "Never mind. There are only three files in here, the ones I thought I needed to keep track of the most. Just about, they were the most powerful ones I've ever faced, not counting Pariah Dark. But that's not the reason I separated them. I needed to keep these files secret, and I still do, really. I just want you guys to see them." He frowned for a second. "I guess I'll have to show tucker later." He put the laptop on the coffee table between them so they could all see.

"That's the Wisconsin Ghost! How did you get a picture of him?" Danny looked at him sadly and Sam felt bad for him. She didn't envy him for having to tell his father that his best friend was evil.

"His real name is Vlad Plamius, and he is one of the most evil beings I've ever encountered. Worse than Pariah, because he likes to manipulate. The worst part is that he's just like me, half-ghost." There was an indrawn breath from his mother, who probably had put it together, but he continued anyway. "When he is in human form, he's called Vlad Masters and looks like this." He brought up the picture and sat back, leaning against Sam to draw strength from her. With a covered yawn he continued." He has been a half-ghost for over twenty years, ever since he was involved in in accident that gave him ecto-acne. He was hospitalized for years, during which time his best friend and the unrequited love of his life got married." He paused here, and it took surprisingly little time for his father to figure it out.

"V-man was in love with Maddie? He never said anything when we were working together. Man, that had to have been a tough break. No wonder he didn't come to the wedding." His wife gave him a look that conveyed both love and exasperation. Danny sighed at his father.

"He was once your friend dad, but you can't count on that anymore. That accident changed his life in more ways than one. It gave him ghost powers, but it also denied him the ability to woo the girl he wanted." Sam's eyes were widening slightly during his speech. She didn't know he knew how to speak like that. It showed a maturity and insight she thought he had failed to pick up. "He stewed in his anger and hatred until it twisted him into what you saw at the reunion. He has used his powers to cheat and steal his way into financial excess, and he has three goals: kill the one who 'ruined his life', make his 'lost love' his wife, and turn me into his dark apprentice. Oh, and he wants the Packers." His mother looked a little put out that he had mentioned Vlad's desire for her. It was obvious why.

"That scum's been trying to steal my wife _and_ my son? I'll rip him limb from limb!" Maddie patted his shoulder, trying to calm him down while Danny sighed.

"Did you miss the part where he wants to kill you dad? Because I'd really be worried about that if I were you. He more or less wants us to come to him willingly, as if, and is willing to work towards that slowly. His plots for us can be seen through and fought. The fact that he just wants you dead makes your situation a little rougher." Danny sighed and shut down the laptop, but not before Sam caught a glimpse of the other two file names. "I think we should talk some more before I show you the rest. After that we need to stop for the day to think things over." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm glad you guys know now, but there's so much to tell you-" Maddie leans in and pats his arm.

"Just take it one thing at a time honey. A deep breath first, and then you can start." Sam absently nodded her head, but ignored Danny when he started talking. Her mind lingered on the two files she had seen: Danny Phantom and Phantasmus. She hadn't know he had a file on himself, but what concerned her more was the other. Who was he? Why had Danny never mentioned him if he was so dangerous? Now wasn't the time for her to ask, but soon everything would come out in the open. She had let him bottle things up for too long, it was time to change that.


End file.
